KaKa

I seriously doubt there was a £12 million budget per se. This was probably quoted to Keegan to emphaisze that we weren't looking to bring in big money signings. I also think had the board been allowed to shift the likes of Barton, Smith, Duff and even Milner earlier in the window, then we could have brought in an additional number of up and coming players in return.

I'm not saying he turned all of them down, but I'm pretty confident his stance would have prevented us from moving for some of these players. The board would have been fighting all summer to try to get him to change his mind or give it a chance, up until the end of the window, when they just decided to do it anyway, as we were woefully short on numbers and it was crucial we brought at least a few more in. Once they did, Keegan legged it.

never mind that, they are cockney wankers/poisoned dwarves (etc, etc...ad infinitum) It's so dissapointing to see such a simplistic view being taken. As far as i'm concerned, the only issue was in their differences with KK, which I am sure he was equally guilty for. Other than that, they have shown they are certainly good at what they are doing. Calling them all the names under the sun will not change that.

Gomis, Arda, Derdiyok, Sahin, Gomez, Pandev, Garay, Veloso, Digard, Chamakh, Skjelbred and many more. There seemed to be quite a good number of promisingyoungsters who we were very strongly linked with this summer, and who it seems fit the criteria of the type of player the club wanted to see brought in. You have to wonder if this squabbling between KK and the board effectively meant we couldn't seal deals for a number of them, as I doubt KK would have been familiar with them at all, especially as it now appears this squabbling has been going on from pretty early on. I also imagine bringing some of these players in would have to have meant the sale of the higher earners who weren't really performing for us anymore i.e. Duff, Barton, Smith and maybe even Owen. However, these were also players KK apparently refused to let go. Only God knows what kind of squad we might have assembled this summer, had we not had KK in charge. You really do have to wonder. I'm pretty sure it was never a case of Ashley not wanting to invest more in the team this summer, but wanting to do so only after more of the high earners who weren't really contributing much, had been moved on. Tbh I think KK screwed us royally from that standpoint. Very frustrating.

Dennis Wise works mostly with Jimenez does he not? I don't think he is solely responsible for the buying of the players at all. Vetere is the man that oversees the scouting and he is very experienced, and then Wise assists jimenez in negotiating and purchasing of players. Jimenez is also very experienced. It's hardly a case of the club having just hired people who do not know what they are doing is it. If Wise and all were so clueless they wouldn't have landed the players they managed to this summer, all of whom look really good. They are doing a good job of identifying players, the issue was with beingin agreement with the manager on who exactly should be bought. People need to stop acting as though they have done a bad job, or as though they are clueless. It's stupid.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/apr/06/football.comment

played under Zico at Fenerbache ... so maybe.

Never really been convinced by Rijkaard. Don't think the fans will be drawn to his dark, moody personality. He also wasn't that impressive without Hank Ten Cate. Not sure about him.

How could I forget! The trewatment of Martin Jol was so much worse. They were openly courtinfg his successor while the guy was still in a job. Didn't you also claim they weren't giving him the players he wanted, but also buying ones he didn't want? The nerve of you, honestly

How legit? No idea tbh. I've been told by someone who's a mate of Paul Kemsley that Newcastle are seriously interested in appointing Fatih Terim. And that is about it. Don't know if he is your #1 choice or whether he is at all interested in taking over, but if he says that Newcastle are interested, then I believe that, hence my £20. FWIW, I don't think Newcastle under the current regime deserve a good manager. How they treated KK is about as shabby as it gets. Cheers for the info. Regarding your last point, Newcastle always deserve a good manager because the fans deserve one, thank you very much. We can't exacltly help who is in charge of our club, so why should we suffer for it? Besides I am of the opinion that KK wasn't totally blameless in all of this, but we've moved on from that anyway. In a way I could see why they might want someone like Terim. He has a ridiculously strong presence and personality, and would be able to deal with the current climate. He would also be able to pull the players together and get them re-focused quite quickly. We shall see I suppose.

judging by reports I`ve read regarding Laudrup he did pretty damn well at Getafe and likes to play attacking football. He did sign Ruben De La Red and Esteban Granero too who were massive successes . Finishing 14th aint bad for a small team with a limited budget like Getafe here`s a snippet Laudrup took over Getafe following Bernd Schuster's move to champions Real Madrid and, after a difficult start, the former Denmark international led the club to one of their best-ever seasons. In the club's first season into Europe, Getafe reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals before losing in heart-breaking circumstances to Bayern Munich, while they also reached their second successive Copa del Rey final before losing to Valencia. Nice ... I'm liking Laudrup as the number one option. I guess one of the good things about the next hire is that it will be someone familiar with exactly how everything works, as there can be nothing left to chance after this disaster.

Now how can we possibly ruin the experience for the new guys? This really stinks ...

Oh ... well that doesn't sound great re. Laudrup. Where's Jol? How legitimate are these Fatih Terim rumours? And what is the rumour exactly? Is he the one interested? Is he under consideration? Or is he already set to take over? Whats the deal? He'd bring Arda in with him as a pressie so that would please some folks

The more I think about it the more I think Laudrup might be the best option. He is a big name because of the footballer he was, and everyone will at least know of him. He was a glorius attacking player and therefore sets his teams up to play very good attacking football. He has enjoyed success as a manager and does appear to be highly rated. He is very familiar with Spanish football and the whole setup, having played there and also managed there. I imagine he would therefore speak Spanish as well, and I assume he speaks English also. He also, according to wiki (gulp) believed in giving youth a chance and bringin them through. If not Micky Laudrup, then Marcelino looks to be a good option. Then Deschamps next.

We shouldn't punish the players for what has happened. I think more than ever we need to fill that stadium up and get behind them, it must be worse for them than it is for us at the moment, as they lose yet another manager and have to build up a working relationship with a new man all over again. We've also landed some top players, who chose to come and join our club this summer, and they deserve to see the best of us, their supporters. Pack the stadium, pay tribute to Keegan, which will let ownership know things weren't handled the best way, and once the whistle goes, give it all we've got for those players. After the game, we can then pay tribute to Keegan again outside the ground, and the ownership will get the message. It's time to move on, and not let too much negativity destroy this season. If we can get this right, I think we, the fans, will come out of this with a lot of credit. Ultimately, it is our club and we are what matters the most. It's a tough time right now but if we stick together and back the team it will truly show that we are the best supporters around.

So we all believe Keegan was clued up enough to bring the types of players that were stipulated from the outset? I think he struggled to do so tbh. Maybe not to the extent as claimed, although I do think he wanted to try for Henry and Ronaldinho , as they were made available this summer.

If there is a silver lining to all this it's that Barton, Smith, Butt, Duff and Owen are history. They haven't done enough for the club in their time here.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/newcastle/article4678988.ece So, if this is true. What the hell should the owner and board have done then? Everyone has so far assumed that Keegan wasn't making unrealistic demands as far as targets go, well it turns out this might not have been the case, which is what I suspected to be honest. The owner clearly wanted a team of younger emerging players, and said this from the outset. What options did he have if Keegan then came in and started asking for these types? Discuss. This must have been going on for ages it look slike, as we all remember the Henry quotes! I am shocked they didn't part ways much earlier as they clearly should have. It's no wonder we had been linked with Marcelino so far back then, as the club was probably already making contingency plans. Absolute madness from both sides.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/newcastle/article4678988.ece Guys I really think we are going to have to come to terms with the fact Keegan was trying desperately to convince the owner to spend the type of money he didn't want to and was ultimately unsuccesful. He wasn't aware of enough emerging talent, which was the type of squad we wanted to build, and therefore players were brought in for him. He was simply the wrong man to hire. He got caught up in a billionaire taking over as most did, and wanted a ton of big players, but this was never Ashley's plan.

Gianluca Vialli nailed on.

Grow up the pair of you.

The only thing Keegan has been doing over the last few days is making sure he isn't out of pocket by leaving. He's managed to persuade the club to pay him all his wages despite resigning has he? Do me a favour, go and take a walk on the highway with your eye's closed. It's been well documented that he'd have to pay the club compensation if he walked out, you can bet he's been negotiating his way out of it. Anyway, I've seen your post about not supporting the club anymore so it was nice knowing you, people like yourself won't be missed. Still think your DOF bollocks works ? Yes, just not with bottlers like Keegan. we'd better get David Gill or someone at ManU buying players above Alex Fergusons head then . See what he does. Mourinho and Jol left for similar reasons. Jol and Arnesen? Look, the system works if you hire a manager identified by the director of football. However Ashley's mistake was bringing in Keegan beforehand. Keegan did aparently let it be known he was interested and Ashley knew the fans would love it. However it was a huge mistake. He should have takne his time and hired a mangager after he had put the setup in place.

Don't talk s***. Who the f*** do you think gets the blame if they're s****? How often do we say of a new manager "he needs time to get his own team together" and you reckon that he shouldn't get the opportunity at all? Give your head a f***ing shake. Who's to stay the club didn't bust their balls to get the players Keegan wanted but couldn't for whatever reason? Did Keegan then offer up alternatives? Or did he not have any? If he didn't have any alternatives, should the club then do what? Are they then wrong to offer up alternatives and try to bring these in as long as they are good players, which they have been? My head doesn't need a shake. I'm thinking about this very clearly and rationally, without getting emotional. A lot of you guys need to calm down. Bailing out on the club now will acheive what exactly then? Keegan is a great man, but he is not God. I'm sure he has some faults as well, and maybe they let him down in this instance. Everyone is just assuming the club was hell bent on making his life hell. I am yet to see good evidence of this. We are now hearing Keegan was not even willing to take their offers of changes into account ... why? This is just an infortunate situation and we have to move forward, and continue to support the club. Don't talk s***. Who the f*** do you think gets the blame if they're s****? How often do we say of a new manager "he needs time to get his own team together" and you reckon that he shouldn't get the opportunity at all? Give your head a f***ing shake. Who's to stay the club didn't bust their balls to get the players Keegan wanted but couldn't for whatever reason? Did Keegan then offer up alternatives? Or did he not have any? If he didn't have any alternatives, should the club then do what? Are they then wrong to offer up alternatives and try to bring these in as long as they are good players, which they have been? My head doesn't need a shake. I'm thinking about this very clearly and rationally, without getting emotional. A lot of you guys need to calm down. Bailing out on the club now will acheive what exactly then? Keegan is a great man, but he is not God. I'm sure he has some faults as well, and maybe they let him down in this instance. Everyone is just assuming the club was hell bent on making his life hell. I am yet to see good evidence of this. We are now hearing Keegan was not even willing to take their offers of changes into account ... why? This is just an infortunate situation and we have to move forward, and continue to support the club. Yes Kaka we know. You're an Ashleyite. Very cute Parky. I don't think I'm being unreasonable in what I am saying. It's very unfortunate people talking about sabotaging their own club. Turning on players who have just joined your club? It's not right. At the very wost the board has made a huge mistake, which unfortunately they were unable to correct by convincing Keegan to stay. Let's give them an opportunity to get it right then. I think they deserve that much at least, afterall they did bring in Keegan in the first place and initially it was great.

Don't talk s***. Who the f*** do you think gets the blame if they're s****? How often do we say of a new manager "he needs time to get his own team together" and you reckon that he shouldn't get the opportunity at all? Give your head a f***ing shake. Who's to stay the club didn't bust their balls to get the players Keegan wanted but couldn't for whatever reason? Did Keegan then offer up alternatives? Or did he not have any? If he didn't have any alternatives, should the club then do what? Are they then wrong to offer up alternatives and try to bring these in as long as they are good players, which they have been? My head doesn't need a shake. I'm thinking about this very clearly and rationally, without getting emotional. A lot of you guys need to calm down. Bailing out on the club now will acheive what exactly then? Keegan is a great man, but he is not God. I'm sure he has some faults as well, and maybe they let him down in this instance. Everyone is just assuming the club was hell bent on making his life hell. I am yet to see good evidence of this. We are now hearing Keegan was not even willing to take their offers of changes into account ... why? This is just an infortunate situation and we have to move forward, and continue to support the club.

This setup we tried to install is for the most part, very succesful on the continent, where teams are so much better at identifying talent and bringing this talent through, before selling this talent to the premier league mugs for outrageous prices. All day I've heard Englishmen saying it never works. Way too stuck in their own ways, and not open minded to change or evolving. Manager and manager only. 4-4-2 and 4-4-2 only. Gerrard in centre midfield. Players in one position and one position only. etc etc etc. Very frustrating.